US embassy to open 1 lakh appointments to cut visa wait time for Indians

Foreign minister S Jaishankar had raised this issue a few days ago with US secretary of state Antony Blinken

Addressing the excruciating long wait times for Indians trying to obtain visas to travel to the United States, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken and the US embassy have assured that they are taking steps to provide a solution to the matter, The Times of India reported.

External Affairs minister S Jaishankar had raised the issue with Blinken a few days ago.

The US embassy is starting with increasing their staff numbers to pre-Covid levels and is planning to achieve the goal in less than a year.

Also Read — Jaishankar raises visa delay issues with US; Blinken says he is sensitive to it

“Steps like getting temporary staff and allowing more drop boxes will help cut the waiting period in the interim,” the minister counsellor for consular affairs at the US embassy in New Delhi, Don Heflin was quoted as saying by the publication.

Drop box is a facility where no appointment is required for people who had a US visa that lapsed in a certain time frame.

Heflin also added that one lakh appointments would be opened for the H and L worker visa categories in the upcoming weeks.

External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar earlier this week had offered complete cooperation to American authorities to cut the backlog in India.

According to the US department of state website, the appointment wait time for visitor visas in cities like Mumbai and Delhi is now 844 and 833 days. However, it is only two days in cities like Beijing.

Heflin spoke about the immigrants who have not been able to visit home since the beginning of the pandemic.

“We sympathise with them a lot and are going to open one lakh appointments in the next few weeks for this category of visas,” he said.